Death Of A King, Birth Of A Conqueror
by gaybaconprincess
Summary: The land of Arcadia is a mysterious one. A land before time, filled with magicks, beasts, and heavenly divines. The people here strive to find something to make their presence known. Existence is fleeting, and there seems to be a never-ending supply of monsters to slay and kingdoms to save. [Medieval Adventurer/Dungeons&Dragons-esque AU. Many more characters than selected.]
1. There's A New World Coming

[I do not own Teen Titans, or Dungeons & Dragons. I do own the plot, however! I spent a long time fleshing out the plot for this, and it's been so long since I've posted. I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun writing this! If you don't know the general gist of Dungeons & Dragons, it's a fantasy game set in Medieval times. As I mention things kin specifically to D&D, I'll make a footnote at the top of the chapter explaining what they are so you don't have to go out of the way of googling it. I really hope you like this so far!

Blood Hunter - class of fighter, a corrupted, volatile warrior who has made a deal with a dark entity to become the dark monsters they fight, in the name of good. Both feared and respected.

Dwarf - 4-5 foot tall race usually made of blacksmiths, forgers, and clan warriors.

Cleric - class of fighter, a holy priest of one of gods or goddesses of old, gifted with powers dependent on their particular god.]

The land of Arcadia is a mysterious one. A land before time, filled with magicks, beasts, and heavenly divines. It's the land where heroes are made, where villains find their foothold, and where nothing is ever what is seems. The people here strive to find something, anything to make their presence known. Existence is fleeing, and there seems to be a never-ending supply of monsters to slay and princesses to save.

And if I told you that the offspring of armageddon's favorite food was cake, or that a bookworm, a barbarian, and a bard would save the planet, you'd look at me as if I were crazy.

She never remembered being born, really. She just simply, was. She just simply, is. She doesn't know what she is, who she is. No, nevermind that, of course she knows who she is.

She is Damaia, roughly translated in our language as "Torment", and she continues to _scruff_, and _scruff_, and _scruff_ across the barren, black landscape towards her destiny. She herself is as quiet as a mouse, trained in the art of killing for survival. But no, this time is different. This time she wants them to hear her - the guards that are centered in front of the gateway to Earth. She wants them to see her coming, with her dripping black claws and her foaming teeth and her dragging tail. She wants them to see her. She wants them to...fear her.

She'd slaughtered her way up to his point. Behind her lay what seemed like thousands of daemon corpses, all splintered on their own blades and twisted into horrible shapes. Their smell permeated the air, and she could feel it catching up to her. The smell of death, the smell of despair, the smell of hopelessness.

It empowered her.

She felt she deserved to bask in this moment, really. So she continued to slowly trodd, up another step, and another, her tail dragging loudly behind her, the rattle of a snake before it struck in the blink of an eye.

She'd traded and she'd bartered and she'd killed to get here, to get to Earth. She was what was now known as a "blood hunter", though very loosely. Blood Hunters were a noble tradition. They sold their souls and their bodies to become the monsters they hunted, to become consumed with dark magick and power in order to finally slay the beasts haunting their lands.

Damaia did it to conquer.

Infused with dark energy from a thousand daemons, she was unstoppable. She'd fought and slaughtered and brawled for the past 653 years because, above all, it was in her nature. But now no one could stand in her way to make it to Earth. Earth was a daemon's playground. Such stupid humans, such a large populace, such an unorganized government.

Finally, finally, one of the guards of the threshold found enough sense in it to finally take aim of its magick in her general direction, still wickedly hidden in the shadows.

"_Ees ouy od tahw? Ouy htiw gnorw stahw_?"

(What's wrong with you? What do you see?)

"_Enasni em gnivird! Evante tsap eht rof esion gniparcs lufwa taht draeh tnevah ouy? Em ouy gniddik ouy era?_"

(Are you kidding me? You haven't heard that awful scraping noise for the past evante? It's driving me insane!)

She smirked in the shadows. Good. She wanted them to squirm.

"_Sginht gninigami eruoy, loof ouy pu tuhs ho_."

(Oh shut up you fool, you're imagining things.)

They'd wish they were.

A deep, feral, screeching war cry, then panicked yelling. The _clatter_ of spears falling to the floor, following by the _clump_ of bodies. Silence. The hum of the entryway.

The methodical _click_, _clack_, and _scruff, scruff _of boot and tail marching its way through the ethereal, glowing portal.

A dwarven cleric beats back another branch with his large walking stick, muttering a dwarf curse under his breath from the effort.

A _tall_ dwarven cleric, he corrects.

Well, tall for a dwarf, short for literally any and every other species.

_No one asked you, did they?_

A tallish-but-not-really dwarven cleric continues to beat and haggle his way through a thick woods, muttering curses all the while. Another trampled-through bush, another sharp, empty tree branch to push his way through using his staff, the process was like a science. He gathered he might just be getting the hang of this whole adventurer thing.

_Whap! _

And suddenly the fabled _great and powerful See-More_ was laying on his back because a vengeful branch had snapped back and struck him right between his eyes.

He sighed, using his staff to pull himself back up, and continued on his weary way, cautiously holding his staff up ahead of him to block any _more_ rogue branches.

He begged to himself, why was he here again? Lost, in the middle of the forest, surrounded by nothing and no one?

The familiar _thud_ followed by a grunt of pain alerted the small boy, perhaps he wasn't alone?

Moving over more tree branches and shrubbery, the tightly cloaked cleric approached the fallen human in as friendly a manner he could. The girl went wide eyed, attempted to back up but hissed in pain when she moved her leg. She had bruises from where she'd fallen, sure, but the real pain was her leg. It was bent in an absolutely horrid shape. It looked like the bend of a spoon, and if See-More tried he could probably break it very easily. Considering his location, he surmised the girl's village must not've had a doctor anywhere near and, too afraid of the forest, her people sent the helpless, crippled girl out alone to either find a doctor in the next town or to die in the forest.

The cleric crouched down next to her, holding his hands out, listening to the familiar hum of magick as his hands started to glow a beautiful chartreuse color.

The girl gasped in fear, crawling away from him some more and holding her arms up as if to shield herself.

See-More deflated, letting the magick seep out of his hands as he thought about a compromise. Looking back up at her but still hidden behind his cloak, he grinned sweetly.

Suddenly See-More started to rub his hands together, as if he were trying to warm them up on a cold wintery day, and small light green specks floated out of them and hovered in the air, like wiping dust from your fingers after working in a wood shop. See-More drew his hands a few inches apart, collecting the mid-air particles, and with a jerk of his whole body he clapped his hands back together, trapping all the particles inside as if they never existed. The still wounded girl watched in confusion as this happened, her blue eyes softening and filling with wonder.

See-More let out a full body sigh as if he'd been holding his breath this whole time, and opened up his palms like a book. A miniature sized horse, all green and yellow and chartreuse, went galloping out of his hand on an invisible path through the air, circling the girl and covering her in particles in the process, giving her face a sweet nuzzle. It was completely see-through and shedded dust wherever it tread, though it wasn't much bigger than See-More's own palm.

The girl laughed- a sweet, melodic sound - as the horse nuzzled her and seemed to just fade out of existence all at once, disappearing as quickly and as strangely as it came.

The girl started at the space in the air the horse once was for a moment before turning to See-More, still hidden in his cloak and smiling, with a sniffle.

"Marigold was my best friend - she was the horse my father gave to me on my tenth birthday. But she died a few weeks ago, and I thought that I'd never see her again. How did you know?" The girl asked with glassy eyes and a broken but amazed smile.

See-More gave a sly grin under his hood.

"Call it a...lucky guess." He replied. "Now, may I see your leg?"

"Are you sure?" She asked, worried. "No one's been able to fix it. We don't have any doctors in our town and, well…" the girl trailed off, not wanting to admit that her village really had sent her out here to break her leg completely and let her die.

"I'm absolutely positive." See-More replied, picking up her leg and bringing it toward him with the gentleness of a newborn. See-More pulled away his hood just a small bit, eyeing her leg critically.

"You're...you're blind." She said in a dumb, amazed voice. See-More rapidly pulled the hood back over his head.

"Yes, yes it appears so. Um, would you mind telling me the story of your leg?" See-More stated more than asked, quick to change the subject.

"But, wait, why did you even pull your hood away then? How did you even make it this far in the forest without a-"

"Of course if you'd prefer we could always sit in stale, agonizing silence." See-More said clipped and sternly.

The girl shut her mouth with a quick pop, before sighing and going along with the crazy man's change in subject.

"I was born like this. I've never walked properly in my life, and I've had to use a walking cane since I was a child. My parents, they tried to kill me as a child, to put me out of my misery, but the royal guard wouldn't have it." She monologued, getting lost in her own biography, barely noticing the chartreuse glow that permeated See-More palms.

"I was always made fun of, teased and bullied. I couldn't do what everyone else could. I could barely stand, let alone run or play. The trouble came when I couldn't work. My parents realized I'd never really be able to contribute to the village with a leg like this and...they just, sent me out here. The royal guard didn't get involved this time. It's not as heavy a moral burden when the cripple's all grown up, I guess." She finished bitterly.

"I'm sorry, I really am. But, may you never live with such sorrow and exile every again. May you never feel the weight of the world's eyes on just one part of you." He said, as if reciting a heartfelt poem.

There was a bright white flash from the woodland stranger's hands, too bright for her to keep watching, so she had to turn away for a quick moment. Upon looking back down, her leg - it was healed. No bumps or bruises, and not a single slight bend in her leg at all. It was as if the bend were never there. No aching pain, no ugly shape.

She started laughing, and then she started crying, not able to believe that she was really, truly healed. The girl sprung up with a start, nearly falling over because she was so used to having to balance on just one side of her body.

"Careful, careful." The kind boy doted with a smile, catching her and balancing her before she could fall. "You aren't used to it yet, it will take time."

She laughed some more, and she cried some more, not knowing which to feel, and started spinning in rapid circles like an out of control child.

"It's healed! It's healed, it's healed, it's healed!" She started yelling hysterically, spinning on the leg that once would've snapped under her own weight.

"It's healed!" She whispered in disbelief one more time as See-More caught her before she could fall.

"I'm glad I was able to help you." See-More said with a soft smile and a satisfied hum. "And, Clarissa, tell your father to put his money on a horse named Tricolour, if he truly wishes to bring your best friend back."

"I...okay. Wait, but, I didn't tell you my-" Clarissa said, stopping her spinning for a moment.

"...name…" She whispered in disbelief as she whipped around. No one was there. There was a slight fluttering of green leaves passing by in the wind, but there wasn't a single trace of the kind man she met in the forest. There wasn't a stamp of his weight on the ground, nor even the easy-to-see push of branches and limbs from where he'd come from. He'd simply...vanished.

"...Thank you." She whispered to the forest, to the wind, praying her words found the man somehow.

[So, it's been forever since I've posted, sorry. But I had this really cool idea for a fic and I've spent forever organizing and planning it out! It's kind of a medieval adventurers/Dungeons & Dragons-esque au. Elves, dwarves, fairies, orcs, the whole mile. For anyone who might not be familiar with the vocabulary here, I'll post footnotes at the top.

Also, I'm partially writing this out of spite for my past works. Re-reading a lot of my stuff is just painful. But I remember always being really sad whenever a fic I loved was deleted or taken down. I HATE most of my past writing, just because I know I've improved since then, so, if anyone would have a problem with me deleting some of my fics, please let me know!

Read & Review please! I wanna know if you guys like my writing so far or not!]


	2. I'm The Bad Guy

[Chapter 2 is here! Featuring mainly Jinx, because I love writing her. Enjoy! Jinx specifically doesn't look like most tabaxi do in dnd, instead I gave her a more human design.

Tabaxi - cat like humanoids driven by curiosity to collect artifacts, stories, and culture

Fighter - fighting class, skilled in most armor and weapon categories

Orc - savage humanoids with stooped postures, piggish faces, and prominent teeth that resemble tusks

Goliath - strong and reclusive, goliaths are barbaric giant-offspring that reside in tribes in the mountains

Barbarian - Fighting class, a fierce warrior of primitive background who relies on flying into a battle rage, highly influenced by emotion.]

In another part of the land, a tabaxian girl dropped her grey satchel on the table of a bar with a loud _thump_, disturbing the other patrons. After receiving a warning glare and a gesture to leave the venue, the girl pushed the stuffed-full bag over with a roll of her eyes and an exaggerated sigh, spilling it's glittering contents onto the table.

Priceless artifacts, stunning gems in gold and green and blue, things no one would dare venture out to attempt to grab, let alone successfully steal. The passageways were too thin, the obstacles too unpredictable and dangerous, the human mind wasn't equipped for the kind of danger that came with raiding lost temples or stealing from fabled sky giants.

The rumors were right - the _human_ mind had no chance of succeeding what Jinx had. The natural skill, speed, and hunting talent of tabaxi, however…

The tabaxi were a lonesome and isolated race of people, and Jinx often wondered what she could accomplish if only she could unite them. She alone was the only tabaxi she'd ever known to venture into the territory of man, and she'd made herself quite a living uncovering lost, priceless artifacts. Of course, she was also wanted and heavily bountied in every town in Arcadia…

She made a clicking sound with her mouth as she picked up a gemstone the size of her fist, spinning it around on her finger and glaring at the barkeep as if he was a troublesome child.

The barkeep stood back in awe for a quick moment as he took in everything Jinx has dumped out before letting out a chuckle - an ugly, growling sound coming from the orcish man - and slurred something in his native tongue that Jinx could just barely make out as "customer".

The man used his massive frame to collect everything into a more organized pile, and started filing payment. He would slide a four gold coin-worth statue his way and slide her a single silver shilling. He would collect two or three beautiful diamonds and give her only a single gold coin. It wasn't fair, it was a 4:1 ratio in payment.

Hell no.

Jinx had worked for this payment, she'd almost died plenty of times trying to get this stuff. She'd forced her body through the most dangerous of temples, ignored obvious ancient curses set upon the place. She'd fought off scavengers and travelled through the most dangerous of wilds. And she was getting only a 4:1 ratio payment? It was an insult, an outrage, an declaration of disrespect-

Just as Jinx was going to put out her dagger, the _clank, clank_ of metal armor came sounding about the bar, quieting everyone in it. A member of the royal guard, decked in his self-glorifying armor, took a quick look over the place, suspicion in his face.

Jinx settled down, sinking into her chair at the bar and pulling her hood further down to cover her face.

The guard finally relented, going back to patrolling around the town and leaving the bar at peace.

The orcish man chuckled, waving around a faded paper with Jinx's face inked onto it, right above the angry lettering of "WANTED".

Jinx glared and let out a low growl. She could either suck it up and try to get what payment she could, or she could have one of these patrons rat on her and leave with nothing but a jail warrant.

Gritting and grinding her teeth, Jinx forced back her pride and her conscious screaming at her to gut this man for his disrespect.

"Help!" screamed a woman's voice as she stumbled through the doors of the bar, all ragged and out of breath.

"Jesus woman, did you run all the way here?" gruffed one of the human patrons in the bar.

"YES!" She screamed again, tears in her eyes. "Please, please! There's- there's a goliath in our village, he's attacking everything!" She cried in desperation.

"A-A Goliath? Well, just- just give him what he wants then! They never come down from the mountains unless they want something! You must've provoked him!" accused another patron, trying to side the responsibility of going to help to anyone else.

"We don't know what he wants! He just attacking everything! He's not even looking for something!" She wailed.

Deafening silence. Side-eyed glances.

"Please! You-You're all surely strong enough to take him down, or at least distract him so the village can evacuate! You!" She pointed accusingly, "You're elven! You could shoot him with an arrow from further away from the danger if you'd like! ...You!" She pointed again, "You're a warrior! Please, please, any of you, help us!" She cried.

"Even you!" She said, angrily as tears ran down her face, approaching the barkeep, "You're orc! You could _crush _him if you wanted!"

More silence.

"But no, no! Of course, I'll leave you all to your beers and your ale. Sitting here on your fat lousy lumps as people die out there. People you can't even bother to stand up and check on!" She sobbed, falling to her knees on the floor amidst the more than uncomfortable bar.

A cloaked woman knelt beside her and helped her up, and upon closer inspection, it was a pink eyed tabaxi girl.

"Out back. I have a horse we can take there instead of running. She has a black mark on her back. You'll find her." She said in a clipped, angry, determined voice.

"Thank you! Oh- oh thank you!" The dark haired woman cried, sobbing into Jinx's shoulder a bit before rushing out back to find her horse.

Was Jinx heroic? No. Was she capable of feeling empathy and did she have somewhat of a stable conscious about the lives of innocent people? Perhaps. Was she going to regret this decision? Oh, obviously.

"_Coward_." She hissed and spit at the orc barkeep as she snatched her satchel from him and headed out of the bar.

Did the culminations of ashamed, embarrassed, and impressed faces she saw walking out of the bar make this life-or-death decision worth it? In Jinx's straightforward mind, it did.

When finally Jinx managed to make it to the village on the edge of Calishite, her horse reared back in fear, almost tossing the village girl off it.

The goliath was huge. Jinx had never faced one of them before. They were usually a calm, isolated race of people that lived alone with their tribes in the mountains and liked it that way.

If they're whole species looked like this, she's glad she'd never had to meet one before.

He had to be 6, maybe 7 feet tall, and that was when he was hunched over, beating at the landscape in a barbaric rage. His hair was matted and the braids running through it were in disarray, and he had terrifying looking tribal markings - or were they birthmarks native to the goliaths? - running up and down his face and arms.

The large goliath lumbered his way to face Jinx where she was still dumbstruck on the horse, letting out another roar and slamming his huge axe in the ground, making it tremble slightly.

"Go!" Jinx yelled, ushering the dark girl off of her horse and pointing her in the direction of a patch of woods she might could hide under.

Jinx felt the goliath chasing behind her before she saw him. With every heavy step, a loud thud shook the ground. Jinx leapt up for a moment, giving the goliath enough time to lodge the enormous battle axe into the ground where Jinx once stood. When she fell back down, she landed gracefully on the handle of the axe that the goliath was now attempting to pull back out of the ground and probably swing at her again with. Before he could, she used the goliath's massive arm as a stepping stool and launched herself forward, swiping hard at the goliath's tough-textured face, and landing behind him with a small _click_ of the heel of her boot.

The goliath let out a pained groan, rubbing his hands at his face a moment before abandoning his axe and turning around to face Jinx with clenched fists.

Jinx gave a sly smirk, her tail flicking proudly behind her, as she saw the thick pattern of four long scratches across the goliath's left cheek. It would probably scar. She hoped so.

"The dogs _eat_ the cats here!" he screamed the threat with a guttural rage, stomping the ground and sending it shaking, destabilizing Jinx's position for a quick moment.

The goliath let out another guttural roar before bull charging right at Jinx, who leapt gracefully in the air again as a dodge, flicking away her cloak in the process.

She landed safely behind him, again, and let out a snort as the giant goliath went charging into the stump of a huge tree that served as the mantlepiece of the town. At this rate she wouldn't really even need to fight, just time her dodges correctly.

But now the goliath was mad - like, really mad. He was practically fuming when he turned around to her.

And then Jinx saw why he was fuming, and why he was so strained.

Jinx gave a panicked yell as the goliath tore the enormous tree right from its roots, half hurling and half banging it down where Jinx stood dumbstruck. There was no way she could dodge that - the body of the tree was the width of six of her. She could hope and try for 'third time's the charm' on her dodging abilities, but it wasn't likely.

Jinx let out an ugly sound as the tree hit her, the combined strength of the tree and the goliath who'd wieldied it knocking the air out of her lungs until she'd felt like a popped balloon. She could practically _feel_ which bones were broken, and her back felt like she were laying on a thousand knives. Things could've been worse, obviously. The tree had just barely missed crushing Jinx's entire body, but managed to land on her ankle. She made a sad, pained sound as she tried to wiggle it free and heard a horrible crunching noise.

The goliath stepped forward again, this time leisurely, sure that he had caught his prey. As he passed where he'd stuck his axe into the ground, he easily yanked it out, chuckling darkly as he made his way closer and closer to the stuck tabaxian.

Jinx started to panic, pulling at her leg with no results.

The horrible monster looked at Jinx, then at his axe, and decided instead he wanted to crush her with his hands. A sort of payback for his face, Jinx assumed. The goliath stuck his axe into the tree, cracking his knuckles as he continued toward Jinx.

Jinx sparked an idea. And that is what separates Jinx from any other relic-seeker in Arcadia, what made her so successful. It wasn't that she was tabaxi, it wasn't that she was fast or strong or lithe. She was clever, clever than most even in her own race.

Jinx reached into her belt, pulling out a long black whip - simple, but dangerous, like her.

Jinx expertly aimed and shot at the goliath's wrist area and succeeded. The whip wasn't meant to burn or hurt, it was used to help her navigate through obstacles, and it reached its target seamlessly, wrapping around the goliath's massive wrist.

The goliath looked down at his wrist in a confused manner, as if wondering why a mosquito was bothering to bite him and ruin his sunny day. Jinx used all of the force she could muster and used both hands to tug on her end of the whip, causing the goliath to stumble forward a bit in his confused state.

_Please be the dumb kind please be the dumb kind please be the dumb kind-_

The goliath's eyebrows tilted downwards, taking the pull as a challenge, and using both hands yanked back on his end of the whip.

Jinx sighed in relief and curled as much of her body as she could around her end of the whip, hanging on for the free ride out from under the tree as the goliath foolishly helped her out of her prison.

The goliath had probably planned on catching Jinx to subdue her himself, but had underestimated his strength, and the small girl went flying behind him, hitting the ground in a way that put her earlier graceful landing's to disbelief.

With a grunt, she pulled herself up, ignoring the white hot pain in her ribs. From her bones or from her air being stolen for the second time, she couldn't say. Either way, she bit down on her cheeks when pain went surging through her body, and forced herself to stand strong in a fighting position, despite her probably dislocated ankle.

She sized up the ugly goliath, sized up her own beat-up self, sized up her whip that was still attached to his wrist, and she silently prayed to any god that would hear her.

_Time it right. You have to time it right._

The goliath came bull rushing at her again - Jinx assumed it was to smash her into the tree she was half leaning on and to turn her into cat-jelly, though she also figured the hulking beast didn't have enough of a brain in there to think that far ahead. He was getting closer, fast. His footsteps, his heavy grunts, his blazing eyes.

_Time it right, time it right._

Her entire body was screaming at her to dodge, to run, to do something besides stand there. Her entire nature was screeching in her head for her to run.

_Timeitrighttimeitrighttimeitright-_

Just seconds before Jinx was smeared into the tree, she used a low branch and her only good foot to push off the tree and above the goliath, twisting around and using the goliath's strength to land on his back as he stood dazed from headbutting yet another huge tree with all his strength.

She didn't dare give the monster time to steady himself, planting her good foot on the monster's back, and tugging back on the whip as hard she could, sending the goliath's own fist into his face. Smiling at her advantage, she tightened her grip on the whip.

"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" She yelled defiantly, pulling back on the whip over, and over, and over, using the full weight of her body each time, putting everything she had into it. She practically had to stand over the monster to use up all of the leeway she had. Over and over and over the goliath's hulking fist came pounding into his face, dazed each time it hit, and not giving him enough time between punches to stop himself.

Finally the goliath let out another angry grunt, swinging his free hand behind himself to try and grab Jinx, only for Jinx to tie the leeway left of the whip around that fist as well, sending the monster into double-punching himself.

Suddenly the goliath was getting slower with his flailing, he was swaying side to side some more, and Jinx relented a bit, just so that she could look smug and enjoy this.

"Maybe the dogs should think twice about _which _cats they bark at." She huffed, ever out of breath, and pulled back on the whip one last time.

The goliath went toppling down like a fallen castle, and Jinx leapt out of the way just in time not to be crushed. Wasting no time, she used what was left of her whip to tie the goliath's other limbs to each other, then kicking him in the head for good measure when he started to murmur in pain. She fell to the ground immediately after, clutching her foot.

Jinx crawled a little ways away from the goliath, falling on her back and groaning.

"We're saved! We're saved!" screamed the girl from earlier, running out of her hidey hole to kneel next to Jinx. Jinx watched as a hundred humans, halflings, and half-elves came stumbling out of their crumbled homes and other hiding spots all at once, crying in joy over the vanquished - or, unconscious - monster that was sure to kill them all.

"You did it! You did it!" The village girl cheered, hugging Jinx's arm, sensing she wasn't ready to get up just yet.

"...At least I don't think I'll ever have to crack my back again." Jinx smiled sadly.

A pained groaning and wriggling came from beside her, as the entire village gasped in horror.

There was a focused, strained grunt, and Jinx tiredly turned her head over just in time to see the goliath snapping her precious whip in four from where she'd tied him up.

The goliath stood at full height, and she prepared for the worst, only for him to come crashing back down, bracing himself on his knee. Raggedly panting, he looked at tired and beat as she felt.

"You...fight...good…" He muttered.

"...Thanks, but isn't this the part where you eat me?" Jinx asked in a deadpan.

"...No, no it isn't." He said. The goliath stood back up to full height, looking down at Jinx with something she hadn't seen before. Something akin to admiration and respect.

The goliath picked Jinx's body up, setting her upright on the ground and helping her find her balance, all while the villagers gasped and tensed, terrified of what he might do next.

"You fight honorably. My people respect that. I respect that. I'm nearly six times your size, _tiny_, and yet here you stand, winner." he preached in an almost fantastical way, smiling down at her.

"So, how did you do it? How did you think of the whip in just the right time?" He asked in his gruff voice.

Jinx, still utterly shocked, replied with a deadpan again.

"I don't spend the whole time screaming off my head and running into trees."

The goliath paused, and then he threw his head back and laughed a deep, mighty sound.

"I don't…I don't understand. Why did you attack this village? How are you so calm now that I've beaten you?" Jinx demanded, utterly bewildered.

"You really _don't_ know goliaths, do you? Or barbarians, I guess." he said aloud, seeming to think to himself. "We're a raging people. Often, if provoked enough, we fly into a consuming rage, and you have to calm us to get out our good-natured side. Your fighting impressed me, and you've given me the workout I haven't had in a very long time." the goliath said.

Jinx spun on her good heel at the villagers.

"I knew you had to have provoked him!"

"But we- we didn't, we swear! We never venture to the mountains!" the girl helplessly cried.

"Nah, not you. Your _people_." the goliath interjected.

"Pardon?" Jinx asked.

"Because of them," He said pointing at the humans specifically, "I am exiled from my tribe, from my home. They took advantage of my...shortcomings in the intelligence department, and practically stole the sacred pelt of my tribe from me! Until I get it back, I will never see my tribe ever again. And it's because of _them_!" The goliath growled, pointing again at the humans. "It's because of this whole _kingdom_. Their king has it now, and my plan is to tear my way through this entire kingdom to get to him!" he roared.

"No! Wait, wait! What if I...if I help you, I can restore my name, and I can also keep you in check. You can't just smash your way there, the royal guard will have you speared on a stick to hang up as a trophy in the castle if you do. Let me help you." Jinx offered, her hands in a gesture of peace. Jinx knew what it was like to have something important taken from you with no respect, no care for what it did to the person it was stolen from.

The goliath thought on this a moment, and she was most likely right. He didn't know the Calishite kingdom like she did, and there was no way he could fight off even more than one of her.

The hulking goliath thought on this a moment, before smiling. He looked down at her offered handshake like it was alien, and instead brought her into a bone-shattering hug that Jinx would never - as much as she'd try to - forget.

"Wonderful! What is your name, my sister in arms?" the goliath bellowed happily.

"I'm Jinx. And what's yours, _partner_?" She asked, stressing the partner aspect, praying the goliath didn't get too familiar with her.

"I am _Pethanithuliaga_!" He said proudly.

Jinx stared at him dumbfounded.

"Could we...maybe shorten-?"

"My clan name is Mammoth!" He bellowed happily. "For my muscles!"

"...Ah, I see." Jinx muttered at the strange red-headed goliath.

This would be an...interesting quest.

[There it is! Please, please, PLEASE Read and Review!]


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